Price

Story. Metaphorical. Short. Have fun.

Once upon a time, a group of trees fell in a rain forest, leaving a gap in the canopy and allowing rare, precious sunlight. A group of seeds fell down, into the soil, warmed by the sun and nourished by the water until they all began to grow. These trees all grew steadily, yet one was growing faster. He was amazed with his progress, and worked hard to absorb all the light he could, all the water he could drink. He grew taller and taller, wider and wider, and the other trees complained.
"With your great height we can barely hear you, friend. We want you back." A young sapling whined, looking at the growing tree.
"But at this rate I will be one of the greatest in the forrest! I will grow large and tall and my roots will spread. I will have powerful snakes and lazy sloths and playful monkeys, all dancing through my branches. You'll see. You'll be proud of me then." The tree replied, shouting down to his friends.
The tree continued, growing large and strong, before soon, his branches and leaves covered the precious light that the others had needed; his roots took up all the space and all the water. The other young trees began to wilt away, into nothing, dying from lack of resources.
"Friend, your growth has caused our demise. We grow weak." Another sappling said, as his leaves fell to the ground, losing their color. But despite his quiet pleas, the friend could not hear them. He heard the chirping of parrots, the wind blowing through his branches. He relaxed in the sounds of the rain forest, continuing to grow without thought.
Finally, one day he looked down and realized that the spots where his friends once were had become the barren bottom of the rainforest.
"Friends? Where have you gone?" He wondered, seeing useless twigs fallen onto the ground. A monkey came swinging along, looking up at the tree. A tree cannot touch, and therefore he could not go down to brush a branch against the twigs, to mourn the corpses of his former friends. The monkey began to speak

"Why they're gone. Without the light, without the water, without the space, they couldn't have made it. You are the fittest, young tree. But at what price did it come?" The monkey asked, before moving away.